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We Want The Funk!
- Andy Valeri; Big Beef Productions
- 4 days ago
- 2 min read
We do indeed, and not only wanting it but needing it, with a full dose of it delivered at the Yellow Springs Film Festival via the fantastic documentary film by Stanley Nelson and Nicole London, released earlier this via the Independent Lens series from PBS. Long time cinema goers at the Little Art Theatre in Yellow Springs where the festival showing took place, testified that they had never experienced a screening there that featured such energy and enthusiasm from the audience.
We Want The Funk! is indeed a ‘syncopated voyage’ through the history and (r)evolutionary trajectory of the music, a style that manifested directly out of our primordial humanity. Which is one of the reasons for its widespread and enduring appeal, one that has had such a profound impact on not only so many musical styles, but on culture, both of the civic and social kind.
The film feels all too timely what with its reminder of how upliftingly powerful it can be when the heart and the head are interwoven into the same beat. When the spirit of doing it, making things happen, moving forward and changing the current situation, is so inspiringly manifested and amplified. When the act of laying on the funk is so transcendent for creators and listeners alike. And when that kind of amplified sense of personal empowerment and encouragement is tied to a kind of political consciousness of common humanity, culture becomes a serious force for change and against the forces of reaction and suppression. Something the film documents through the sweeping political impacts of the work of the likes of James Brown, Fela Kuti, and others.
It has a kind of effect, one that It’s All Happening is inspired to being attuned to, where music and culture are no longer just reflecting the events and changes around our societies, but actually helping to define and propel them forward.
After the screening there was an informative Q&A with the film’s directors Stanley Nelson and Nicole London, moderated by my old friend and filmmaker Steve Bognar. They were also joined by Ed Warren. a Dayton native also featured in the film. Dayton, by the way, got its deserved recognition in the piece for its prominent place in the global history and development of funk music. The airplane is certainly not the only Dayton-based invention that has helped mankind to truly fly “)
